Somber Hearts
by Skywolf24
Summary: On the final night before the dawn, Talia gets to unmask Bane and give him strength before they enter the fire. TDKR One shot.


**Somber Hearts**

**All Characters Belong to Christopher Nolan and DC Comics**

**A disclaimer : I do not own any of these characters from the Nolanverse **

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The evening hour approached, Miranda Tate stood regally against the ledge of Roland Daggett's penthouse. Her eyes were like smoldering blue embers, intense and piercing as she settled a gaze on empty streets below her.

Everything on the sidewalks was still, glows from burning oil drums reflected off the frozen cracks of ice and the fresh dust of snow descended from the darkening sky. The flakes are just like the ones in the mountains, cold, airy and impermanent as a promise that slowly faded into the flames of remorse. Most of the crystallized clusters of snow matched the iciness of her tortured soul, twisting and condemning.

Miranda pulled out the dagger from her overcoat, a steel blade with its hand made from the cattle of the mountain pass as she caught Gotham's reflection with a sway of the blade, her back was turned to the armed men posted at the balcony glass doors. She flickered her lashes, low against her frozen cheek, listening to encroaching footsteps waft behind her. She turned her neck, her gaze tore from the shadowy buildings as she met the dark blue orbs of her protector, Bane. Her spine stiffened and heart clenched against the constricting walls of her chest, she felt the blood in her veins become heated when she stared at the tender gleams dazzling in his eyes.

"Everything is ready for the dawn?" Miranda asked, voice shaky as she narrowed her eyes. "Gordon is still out there , I'm guessing his forming an assault with the last of his officers. No matter, he won't see his victory for Gotham. Not when time is betraying him."

"What about Bruce Wayne?" Bane's muffled voice asked, "My men had him in the Stock Exchange building this morning. Three of them were found unconscious and one told me that it was the jewel thief you hired on claim the Prince of Gotham's fingerprints... Selina Kyle."

Miranda curved her ruby pained lips into a defiant sneer. " We should have taken care of her in the sewers. It doesn't matter anyway. She will get her reward tomorrow when I make this blade dig deep into the bones of Bruce Wayne."

Bane pondered for a moment, his eyes narrowed at the dagger. " So the thief has a weakness for him. I knew I could sense it when she was watching him fighting for his life in the sewers. She has become his ally."

"No. She's become more than just simple solider for his assault, my protector. She has become his lover. Bruce doesn't see it yet because he is still under my spell. Once I stab him in the heart, his dying eyes will see the truth that has been masked from him."

Bane was silent with his harsh breathing, watching her turn on her heel as the shroud of vengeance cast over her body, he took a few steps forward, noting the swirling storm inside of her as she became rigid in the frosty air. He was hesitant to invade her presence, but finds his courage and stood inches away from her, his bulky arms encircled around her trim waist, pulling her against his bullet proof vest. Miranda didn't fight him off, instead she accepted his embrace and tilted her head back, allowing her chocolate curls to cascade over her shoulders, and draped over her flawless cheeks. She closed her eyes, feeling his large, rough fingers splay against the side of her neck.

"Will we have our liberation, my protector?" she asked, voice was soft. "We will finally be free?"

"Freedom always has its price, Fire."

Miranda nodded with a somber gaze, " Once my father's work is finished. We will be together."

Bane caressed his hand over her soft skin, "When Gotham is ashes you have my permission to take off the mask."

She knitted her eyebrows for a moment and slowly turned into him, her torso was against his and she raised her hands, rubbing them over the tubes of his skeleton like a mask. She mashed her teeth into her bottom lip, feeling the urges of her desires ignite into her heart. "You don't need to hide your face from me. I know who you are underneath this," she drummed her fingers over the latches. "I'm not afraid of the scars that you conceal."

He bowed his head down, "I am a monster underneath, Fire. I am not a man."

"You're repeating the words of my father. He condemned you to think that way. But I know the truth. I've seen the man who became my shield in the darkness. What my father told you was lying from a serpent's tongue. He was a demon and you are my protector." She stroked her hand over his exposed tarnished skin. "You were banished from the mountains because one crime. It wasn't a crime, Bane. It was a promise that you made to little desert flower whose innocence was stamped out by grief of losing her mother."

Bane's eyes filled with tears, and he brushed his fingers over the curve of her jaw. Miranda smiled beautiful up at him before unfastening the latches of his mask, she winced, listening to his strangled breath rumble up his throat and grasped the mask in her hands as she looked at the man. Her shield that guarded her heart.

His face was unrecognizable from what she remembers, scars covered his rugged skin and his nose had been sliced off revealing a tinge of ivory bone. She refused to tear her gaze away from him, she didn't care about the scars and the disfigurement of his face. She cared only about the man underneath the second mask and she knew there wasn't much time before he would struggle for breath. She brushed her lips quickly over his rough patches of marred skin , and then pulled back.

Bane stepped forward, cradling her face with his massive hands, moving fast and crushed a hard kiss against her lips and she curled her arms around his neck, giving him her breath as she kissed him hard, desperate and lovingly. Although his lips were deformed, she felt his soft thrust into her mouth as he plunged deeper, kissing her in such a way that rendered them both breathless.

She broke away, listening to his struggling intakes of breath and quickly pulled on his mask, fixing the tubes and securing the latches. She looked up deeply into his gentle eyes, wiping the tears away with a brush of her thumb and whispered a calming breath.

"You're real crime in my father's eyes wasn't that you were a monster, but that you were in love with me."

Bane nodded, "Yes. I love you." he stepped back from her. "I want you to be free, Fire."

She walked up to him, cradled his masked face into her hands as she looked into his teary eyes, and parted her lips slowly as she mustered up an honest confession as she placed her hand over his heart.

"I'm already free,"


End file.
